Jump Into The Fog
by strawberry dreams
Summary: Far away from home and this new world is suffocating him. There's a stranger who likes to play dangerous games but the stakes might be too high for both of them. One thing is for sure: Shuuhei can never go home.


_We feel nothing so we jump into the fog_

_In the hope that we hit the ground upright_

_We feel nothing so we jump into the fog_

_I just hope it's your bones that shatter not mine_

_(Wombats - Jump Into The Fog)  
><em>

**1. Smoke without mirrors**

The human world was smoke without mirrors. It blinded the senses but lacked the illusion.

Even high up on the rooftop of an old factory there was no oxygen for him to breath, just the damp pressure of smoke saturated air . In the day, he had been astonished by the amount of smoke that rose heavenwards from cars and chimneys, as if the earth herself were exhaling the grey gas from disease-ridden lungs. Even now, in the deepest of night, as the streets beneath had become quiet, the smoke still stayed, stifling the starlight. A burial shroud thrown prematurely over this dying world.

Sitting on the edge of the building, his legs dangling, Shuuhei braced his arms behind him and looked up into the starless sky. No midnight blue. It was orange and red. It was hell. Fire and brimstone and this world was coming to its end. Taking him along with it.

Shuuhei sat back up, letting his hand grace over the scarred concrete.

"Might as well die together" he said, looking out over the outline of the city bathed in the sickly red glow.

"Why the hell not?"

Heavy black boots stepped into his field of vision, right next to where his hand was still drawing symbols on the concrete (symbols that his mind insisted held some meaning, but all was lost under the red sky).

"I wasn't talking to you."

"What, you're backing out already?"

Shuuhei looked up at the man standing over him, his silhouette dark against the red backdrop.

"What's it to you?"

"You're about to spoil my fun."

"Fun?" Shuuhei watched skeptically as the stranger sat down next to him on the edge of the building. "What kind of fun did you expect up here?"

"I came to watch birds. This is where all the broken winged birds come. They can't fly anymore, but they are addicted to the height."

Shuuhei thought that there was something wrong with this man. Something about his hair that seemed … uneven.

"Go ahead, I'm not going to disturb you. Watch your birds."

The stranger laughed.

"You are tonight's bird."

"I'm no bird"

"I just realized it myself. They come here longing to fly. You are longing for the fall."

"You're talking nonsense."

The dark figure next to him shrugged.

"Who doesn't?"

Shuuhei leaned backwards to lie on his back, his legs still hanging over the edge, looking up into the red sky.

"You're going home now since there are no birds tonight?"

"I've grown tired of birds. But you caught my interest."

"Go home. I don't feel like entertaining you."

"Maybe I could entertain you."

"I don't want to be entertained."

"Then what do you want?"

Shuhei closed his eyes.

"Nothing" he said.

A sharp pain in his shoulder as he was jerked upright by his arm, nails were digging into his flesh as another hand grabbed his other shoulder tightly. The whisper of breath against his face.

"You must always", the stranger said, "want."

Another jerk, Shuuhei opened his eyes, found himself falling. Twelve stories rushed past like a dream. Next to him, the stranger was laughing.

* * *

><p>The fall took them off their feet as they hit the ground. Shuuhei rolled over the damp concrete, skinning his arms and legs. He came to lie on his back, looking motionless up into the sky. Still red. Always red. What had this world ever done to deserve such a fate? The footfall of heavy boots came closer.<p>

„You're still alive", the stranger said.

Shuuhei didn't even blink, keeping his eyes trained on the sky.

„I thought you might be."

The sky was unchanging, dawn just a fairytale.

„Hey, are you in there?"

If it were raining, would the rain cleanse the air, or would the water be tainted?

„Did you like the fall?"

„No."

„Why not?"

The stranger's head appeared above him, blocking his view of the sky.

„It didn't scare me."

The stranger chuckled. He was on his hands and knees, his head up-side down over Shuuhei's.

„So you want to be afraid?"

„No. But I would have liked it."

The stranger chuckled again. He reached out for Shuuhei's right arm that was lying limp beside his body, lifting it by the wrist and licking slowly from elbow to wrist along the underside, where skin and flesh had been torn by the concrete. It hurt. Shuuhei closed his eyes, breathing the pain like oxygen. When the tongue had reached the wrist, his arm was laid back down almost gently. Then there was a finger tracing the tattoo-lines on his face and the stranger's voice, low and calm above him.

„I like your look." the voice said. „The blood really compliments you. If only there were a little pain in your eyes to go with it. You would be really beautiful."

The soft touch of lips against lips and a rush of air.

Shuuhei opened his eyes.

He licked his lips, tasting his own blood.

The sky was red.

The stranger was gone.

_A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. _


End file.
